HICKLING : CHURCH OF ST LUKE

Church Post Code LE14 3AQ

Church normally closed to visitors but open on Hickling Scarecrow Festival weekend.

Not to be confused with the village of the same name in Norfolk, Hickling is a village in the Rushcliffe borough of Nottinghamshire which recorded a population of 523 in the census of 2021. It was the second weekend in September in 2026; and the annual Hickling Scarecrow Festival weekend. An eight foot high hen sits on her eggs; a hippy sits happily in a deck chair, his frame of mind no doubt influenced by what he is smoking! The mad hatters were having afternoon tea; a family of rather large hedgehogs were waiting to use a zebra crossing and the biggest Henry vacuum cleaner ever smiles mischievously at those approaching from its left! As you might have guessed the theme for the weekend was the letter ‘H’.

This was an ideal chance to see inside the church; which was due to be open throughout the weekend. I had planned to visit a coffee morning at the church here back in the summer of 2017; this falling foul of torrential rain on the day. A return visit to the church here during the summer of 2020 saw the Belvoir Angel gravestones photographed with the church closed that afternoon.

Hickling can be found in Nottinghamshire, close to the Leicestershire border. Melton Mowbray is some nine miles away to the south east with Nottingham 13 miles away to the north west. The village forms a triangle with Nether Broughton and Upper Broughton with roughly a third of all surviving Belvoir Angel gravestones to be found in the grounds of these three churches.

The village itself is quite narrow, running north to south with the church of St Luke to be found towards the north of the village, set back a little from the main road that runs through the village. The Grantham canal, closed to commercial boats since 1936, runs through the village to the north.

This is a historic village; which was situated close to the Fosse Way, a major Roman road which ran from Exeter to Lincoln, with several Roman coin hoards being found locally over the years. The village was mentioned in the Domesday Survey of 1086, with no church or priest being recorded here at that time.

The church that we see today dates back to the 13th century, with 14th and 15th century additions but an elaborately carved Anglo Saxon grave cover, which can be found in the chancel, predates that by some time! The church of St Luke consists of west tower, nave with north and south aisles and clerestories, south porch and chancel.

The north and south aisles were each added to the original structure during the early 14th century, with the south porch also dating from that time. The nave walls were raised and clerestory windows were added during the 15th century.

The church here has seen more than its fair share of structural issues over the years. As far back as 1621 the church was reported as being in a poor state of repair. In more recent times the chancel was completely rebuilt in 1845 but the chancel arch leading in to it is original; dating from the late 13th century. The west tower was also completely rebuilt in 1871, with general restoration of the church at that time and also in the late 1880’s and also in the late 1880’s after a gale blew the lead off the roof. Further repairs followed in the first half of the 20th century.

Today there are eight bells in the ring here; with there being only a ring of four during the early 19th century. The first two of the ring are modern each cast by Taylor of Loughborough in 1998 and 1994. The third was cast in 1794 by Edward Arnold of Leicester.

The fourth and fifth are again courtesy of Taylor of Loughborough, dated 1873 and 1935 respectively; the sixth is from Taylor as well, dated 2013. This replaced a former bell which was cracked; this being cast by Henry II Oldfield from his Nottingham foundry. This bell was inscribed ‘My roaringe sound doth warning give that men cannot heare always lyve’. My spell checker did not care for this inscription!

The seventh of the ring was cats by the Newcombe foundry at Leicester in 1602. The eighth and final of the ring is another from Henry II Oldfield in 1618 with this bell having the same inscription as the old sixth.

The visitor enters the church grounds via a gate to the west; a delightful 18th century brick cottage acting as the western boundary edge of the church grounds to the west. The church grounds are filled with slate gravestones; with the Belvoir Angels themselves being covered on two further pages on this site.

Scarecrow angels were hanging from trees to the south; which were soon to get wet on a day of changeable weather! The rebuilt west tower is of three stages, buttressed and battlemented, with church clock facing out from its western face. A frieze of a repeated ‘X’ design runs across the top of the tower; the outline of the previous roofline before the clerestory was added is visible on the east wall of the tower.

A date stamp of 1736 can be seen on the eastern wall of the south aisle; this marking the date that some repair was carried out. The south porch has a substantial parapet with damaged pinnacles and a headless gargoyle to its western wall.

Interestingly there is a pentagram carved inside the south porch. Today this has associations with the occult but in medieval times this was a Christian symbol which symbolised the five wounds of Christ. I remember a few years back having a guided tour of a church in Lincolnshire, given by a very knowledgeable and thorough guide. There was a pentagram there as well and she missed this out in her tour. I queried this at the end and she replied ‘Yes, this shouldn’t be here!’ We have a danger of looking at things with today’s eye and sometimes meanings can change over the centuries!

The rebuilt chancel is battlemented and pinnacled, with square headed windows; the east window being of three lights with screen over it protecting some medieval stained glass fragments behind it. A very fine 14th century foliate cross slab is set in to the west wall of the south aisle, which is suggested to be one of the finest to be found in the county.

Moving inside, there were plenty of people looking around the church; refreshments were in plentiful supply and a display from the Hickling Local History Society ran part of the length of the nave. There were no scarecrows in the church itself; fond memories of a church visited some years ago, location forgotten, where a scarecrow effigy of a vicar and his wife were stood alongside the pulpit during a similar festival!

There are four bay arcades to north and south, built during the early 14th century when the church was expanded; these having octagonal piers and capitals. Walls are whitewashed and the hand of the Victorian restorers is evident throughout.

The church organ can be found at the east end of the north aisle. At the east end of the south aisle we can see a medieval piscina, in which the holy vessels used during the Mass in pre reformation churches would have been washed; ‘Holy Washing Up’ as I heard it described on a church tour not too long ago. Alongside this is an aumbry, a small cupboard in which the holy vessels would be stored. Looking towards the west the tower arch is covered by white panelling from top to bottom, with a door and a three light window punched through the panelling.

As mentioned earlier the chancel was completely rebuilt in the 1840’s and history has been lost in the process with sedilia, the seating for the priests during the Mass, piscina and aumbry all failing to survive the rebuild.

The altar cloth is green; this being the liturgical colour used to indicate ‘Ordinary Time’ which is the periods in between the major Christian festivals; in this case the period between Pentecost and Advent. The reredos behind the high altar dates from the Victorian restoration and has three ogee headed bays, the central of which is wider with a depiction of Jesus breaking bread with the two that he met on the road to Emmaus.

The east window is of three ogee headed lights and has the only stained glass to be found at the church here. It was commissioned in 1839 and is brightly coloured with heraldic designs and some medieval fragments built in to the tracery.

There are some defaced medieval poppy head carvings in the chancel; these doubtless falling foul of the reformers during the 17th century at which point I daresay that the existing medieval glass would have been smashed as being idolatrous, accounting for the fragments that we see today.

On that chancel floor we see an exquisite memorial brass to Ralph Babington who was Rector here and who died in 1521. He stands holding a chalice from which rises a communion wafer.

Also worth noting are two grave slabs. One was found in the church grounds and placed in to the chancel in 1999. It is to one William Harrowden, 3rd Baron Vaux of Harrowden who died in 1595. He was an interesting character; a staunch catholic who was several times convicted of recusancy under the reign of Elizabeth I; this being the refusal of a person to attend compulsory Church of England services following the Reformation.

Close by we see another grave slab, this one Saxon and being of huge importance. This is suggested to date from the 10th or 11th centuries, pre dating the present church here by some time. The carvings on this consist of intricate interlace patterns alongside some depictions of animals.

Moving back outside the church grounds are of great interest; full of slate gravestones which, by nature of the material, have weathered very well over the centuries. The Belvoir Angel stones are covered elsewhere on this site but just to mention a few others. We see some intricate carvings with an angel in flight blowing a trumpet, finely carved wings unfurled. The trumpet is an often used symbol of the resurrection and the angel holds a banner which reads ‘The trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible’ which is part of I Corinthians Chapter 15 verse 52.

Close by we see a male figure holding a set of scales. This is due to be a depiction of the Archangel Michael who is traditionally seen a holding the scales on which the souls of all will be judged on the final day, judging those deemed to be righteous and those condemned with Christ sitting as the final judge.

We also see a female figure clinging on to a cross with a message to those looking on underneath which reads ‘Life How Short Eternity How Long’.

As always, as shown in some of the epitaphs on the Belvoir Angel stones, life back in the 18th century was often short and hard. It is worth remembering that the gravestones that we see were for those who were comparatively well off. Most people would have been poor enough to have been buried without any gravestone. How much harder were things for those without means!

Epitaphs for the deceased throughout church grounds everywhere run along a similar theme; extolling the virtues of the deceased. Here at Hickling though we see an epitaph on a gravestone to one William Parr who died in 1824 aged 73 years and his wife Sarah who died in 1811 aged 63 years which treads a different path. It reads ‘How many pompous words are often spread/To number up the virtues of the dead/Vain use of praise since all mankind must know/The Judgement Day alone will plainly show’.

It was good to revisit a village that I have grown very fond of over the years and to see inside the church here. The church of St Luke is well worth taking a look at if you are in the area and can find it open. We left armed with lunch; a cheese cob from the refreshment table. We know that we are in the Midlands when it is called a cob! And a very nice cob is was too.

As well as being the Saturday of Hickling Scarecrow Festival weekend it was also English Heritage Ride and Stride day; with some churches open which would normally not have been; with six churches visited after leaving Hickling, all of which were open. The afternoon ended in a slightly more noisy fashion; visiting the church at Keyworth before watching Keyworth FC entertain Beeston Town in the Notts Football Alliance. It had been a good day.